Handspun Yarn Up For Grabs

Hey guys, I've got some handspun skeins of yarn up for sale this weekend! I was originally keeping these for myself (love the colors on all of them!), but chose to sell them so I can add to my "dog fund". I'm also slashing the price on each skein by 50%! Awesome steal!

 Price is $12.50 per skein + $5 shipping. 

 If you're interested in buying some of this wooly goodness, shoot me an email at: applethornfarm@gmail.com

  I have the fiber content and yardage listed below the pic.

Listed by Skeins shown left to right:

Sky Blue: 115 yards; 2-ply, Fingering weight. 60% Suri Alpaca, 40% Merino. Gorgeous drape and color!

Light Purple: 128 yards; 2-ply, Fingering weight. 50% Merino, 50% Silk. Soooooo soft and shiny!!

Pink/Blue/Green: 134 yards; 2-ply, Sport weight. 100% Merino. Love the happy Spring colors on this one!

Fall Colors: 61 yards; 2-ply, worsted/bulky weight. 100% Blue Faced Leicester. Gotta love those pumpkin hues...

 Dark Purple: 80 yards (I have an additional 20-ish yards that I can spin up and add to this); 2-ply, Worsted weight. 70% Merino, 30% Alpaca.

  I have a ton load of fiber that I'm working on spinning up, so if you want yarn of a different color or fiber, let me know! 

CSA Deadline, Coming Soon!!

I've extended my yarn CSA deadline until the 31st, so if you would like to be a part of this fun project, you still have time to sign up!!

For more information about my yarn CSA, click HERE.

A Familiar Sight

History repeats itself. I go upstairs to work at my spinning wheel, and find an interesting panorama before me. The spinning wheel's drive band has been knocked off, and is wound tightly around the flyer. The yarn on the bobbin is broken, and fuzzed up. there is fiber on the floor. The scotch brake is broken. The oil bottle is lying on the floor. Beads are scattered across the carpet, and sink into its depths as if in quicksand. In short, I find a wreckage.

 And I'm not surprised.

 Telltale clues are also scattered amongst my work. Lego figures that have no heads (I find the heads beneath my chair) lie quietly on the battlefield.. Little, plastic Lego helmets rest on the spinning wheel's Mother-of-all. Small fingerprints are smudged on the wheel's once clean wood. The "gruesome twosome" have been here...

Or, in plain English, the 2 and 4 year old brothers. Thing #1 and Thing #2. You can tell them as many times as you want that the spinning wheel is off limits, and not to be touched; but they'll forget in 10 minutes. To them, the spinning wheel is the greatest toy ever invented. It moves, it's big, there's lots of things for Lego figures to do on it while in battle (hence the helmets and beheaded fellows), and there are lots and lots of glorious, tiny beads that can be thrown around!! How cool is that!?!?

So I lost a lot of beads to the carpet today... You know those itty, bitty seed beads that are smaller than a pinhead? Yeah, those ones. And my drive band now has a lovely black streak on it, from the oil on the flyer. The yarn didn't get too much damage this time, thankfully!! I'm in the midst of finishing up some skeins for the yarn CSA, so I wouldn't have been happy if it had been ruined!

After surveying the mess, I went and found the two miscreants. I asked them if they were the ones who played with my wheel, and after a few moments of thought on their part, they smiled big and said, "Yep!". We've gone through that little confrontation about the wheel so many times, that today I merely smiled and asked, "Did you at least have fun?" Another "Yep!" followed.

Oy. Maybe it's time to turn the barn hayloft into a spinning studio...

Zzzzzz....

Eh? What was 'zat? Sorry, I must have -- fallen -- asleep -- again.... Zzzzz... ;)

 Okay, so I'm not quite THAT tuckered out; but I'm pretty close. The class went really well, and there was a headcount average of somewhere around 20 people. Not too shabby if I say so myself. :) I learned today, that I need to buy another copy of myself. Goodness gracious, those girls were all needing help for something different, at the same time! Now I know how my old art teacher felt... I probably looked like a bumble bee; bumbling, ducking, stooping, and turning; trying to help 13 girls use a drop spindle! LOL! It was interesting to see which girls really latched onto the spinning process, and those who seemed a little indifferent. It was a fun group though. They were all really sweet girls, they were attentive, and they learned surprisingly quickly! By the end of the lesson, each girl knew how to choose, wash and card a raw fleece, and how to spin their own yarn.

Oh, and here's a winner. I've waited who knows how many years to hear this. I got called, "Miss Caity", today! ;) I never thought I'd live to see the day when I was old enough that young girls would look up to me and call me "Miss"! LOL! So there, one of my life's goals completed...

Also sold a good bit of goat milk soap at the class, which was really nice. :) Gotta' start saving for a plane ticket to VA!

OH! And I am so, super stoked. The class hostesses (this spinning class was part of a home ec thing; and I was asked to teach) let me borrow their brand-spankin'-new copy of Joel Salatin's latest book, "Folks, This Ain't Normal". I started reading it on the way home, and am already loving it!

It's A Start

I can't believe its taken me this long, but I finally put a few things in my Etsy shop! How shocking! Still lots more to put in there, but that's for another day...

Announcing... A Yarn CSA!

This would be the answer (well, one of them anyway...) to all of my thoughtfulness, and wheels-in-head-turning that has been going on. I am offering five shares to my yarn CSA!!

In the past, I have always relied on selling raw goat's milk to get me and the animals through the winter. This year however, all of my does are dry (not lactating), so I am forced to start getting creative! I think this CSA will be a fun, if not challenging, experience. I can't even remember the last time I needed to push myself to make a skein a day (and for the record, it takes 5-6 hours to make 1 skein of yarn)! But, if I can get all five shares sold, I do believe it would hold us quite comfortably through the winter. Last year, I had to make some hard cuts due to lack of funds, and ended up selling my rabbits, and some goat kids that I wanted to keep (I still regret selling them!). I am hoping to not have to repeat that winter!!

 If you are a knitter, crocheter, or just a yarn lover in general, and you have yet to try using hand spun yarn, well, I think you would like it. ;)

 But, enough talk! If you would like more information on a CSA share, or if you would like to buy one, simply click HERE.

Handspun Goodness

I like yarn...

I enjoy knitting too, but spinning is a passion...

These are my latest creations:

On the far left is a beaded, two-ply, gray alpaca skein. Middle skein is natural colored, 2-ply Blue Faced Leicester (sheep), and the far right is a fawn colored, 2-ply, beaded baby alpaca. 

The gray is called, "Gypsy", the BFL is "Simplicity", but the fawn does not yet have a name...

Any suggestions?

I have an Etsy shop which has been pathetically empty for almost a year now, so I'm working on reviving it, and stocking some yarn in there soon. But it's driving me crazy not having a name for my favorite skein!

Silky soft, high luster, beaded... This is one of my favorite skeins I've done yet...

But then, it's baby alpaca, so of course it's nice. ;)

I believe this skein will be up for sale soon (I actually have two of this kind; making a total of somewhere around 298 yards), but not until it's named!! 

Of course, there's always the chance that I may trade it for something at the OFFF... I always like to trade things at the festival, instead of using money. It's loads of fun! There's definitely an art to pulling off a good trade. Last year I came home with a lovely alpaca fleece, some spindles, some sheep roving, a rabbit, and some yarn; all without paying a cent. I could have brought a lamb home, by trade alone, but there wasn't any room in the car for it. Bummer.

So, what think ye'? I need a name for this lovely yarn...